‘BOM’ (with
taglines as interesting as ‘One Day Ahead of Democracy’ and ‘Why Ban the Holy
Weed?’), is a documentary, shot,
directed and edited by Amlan Datta, which focuses on the remote village of
Malana located in the Himalayas. The village “isolated
from outside civilization for thousands of years has been fostering a primitive
existence in harmony with nature and a unique model of democracy of consensus.”
Also, it produces the best quality hashish in the world. The film tackles
various issues ranging from mythology, superstitions, elections, village
customs and traditions, cannabis, corruption, dichotomy of Indian polity among
others. The most interesting aspect about ‘BOM’ is that it is absolutely non-propagandistic.
The film does not offer any solution; instead it divulges all sides of the
story and leaves it to the viewer to make his/her judgement. The film doles out
more than a few uncomfortable truths. As a viewer, one gets acquainted with
these harsh realities that the supposedly ‘backward’ parts of the country have
been faced with. It is not an unknown fact that a country like India is filled
with paradoxes. Our country inhabits the richest and the poorest, the modern
and the backward, the saints and the sinners and more importantly, those
possessing virtues and those possessing vices. At the beginning of the film, a
character talks about there being two mountains, Mt. Virtue and Mt. Vice. In
the beginning Mt. Virtue towered about Mt. Vice by quite a humungous margin.
However, over the years, as the world has grown to become more negative, Mt.
Vice has overtaken by a comfortable margin. It is said that the day Mt. Virtue disappears;
the world will come to an end. This sequence appears right at the beginning of
the film and gets the viewer into ‘introspective’ mode from the word go!
The documentary is among the best Indian documentaries
made in this year (releasing in India in 2012). While it makes no judgement at
the end, the vast amount of exposure it gives to this unheard village of
Malana, is in itself evidence enough that something is not going right in this country.
The tagline ‘One Day Ahead of Democracy’ is a poignant message in itself.
Malana may seem ‘backward’, ‘uncivilized’, and ‘rural’ to us urbanites.
However, what needs to be taken into consideration is whether the people of
Malana have been given enough opportunities. The film makes you reflect and
how! It is definitely a must-watch. By the trailers or the promotions, the film
may sound as one that’s about legalization of cannabis. However, it goes on to
talk about much more. Director Amlan Datta’s exceptional research, keen eye for
detail and his brilliant comfort level with the villagers of Malana works
wonders for this lovely documentary. The length of the film is just about fine.
Long enough to encapsulate all the aspects of Malana along with the Indian
democracy itself, and just about short enough to keep you thoroughly engaged.
The ‘protagonist’ of the film is Hemraj. The
young man, like most other inhabitants, has spent his entire life in Malana,
cut off from the other parts of the country. The people of Malana have their
own culture, traditions, and ways of electing chieftains, lifestyle and sadly,
their own limited means of livelihood. Most transactions in the village occur
through the centuries-old barter system. They have their own system of giving
out judgements and their democracy allows every individual’s opinion to be
taken into consideration (quite contrary to the present state of affairs in our
country touted to be the ‘world’s largest democracy’). The foundation of their
civilization, popularly believed to be descendants of the Greek soldiers in
Alexander’s army, is based on trust. And since, a given word is considered as
gospel, the villagers have brushed aside formal education as well. The
villagers have been producing the best quality hashish since several decades.
Cannabis has been growing in this region since time immemorial, owing to the
grace of Lord Shiva. They’ve used it for medicine, footwear, smoking,
consumption etc. However, owing to disconnect with the outside world, the
Malana inhabitants have never really known the true value of hashish. They have
only traded with sheep wool and it is not enough for them to make ends meet. Apparently,
some foreign tourists, back in the 70s, taught the villagers how to rub the
cream and hence, prepare the more potent hashish suitable for the international
market. This led to the recognition of the Malana cream around the world making
it more like a home industry. However, the government used its muscle to bring
those, who were breaking the law, under the judicial process. This leads to the
government taking an active interest in the apparent ‘uplifting’ of the
village. Dams are built, elections are held, bridges are constructed, and
electricity, automobiles, cellular phones, educational devices are brought in,
while laws relating to cannabis are still kept intact. So while Malana is
opening up to the outside world, there is no real source of employment for its
people besides cultivation of cannabis. Owing to their financial constraints,
people such as Hemraj are forced to get involved in the illegal trade, unaware
of the fact that if bought to book, they will be faced with the stringiest
punishment possible. The film is about this state of doldrums that Malana finds
itself in. To choose between the life inflicted upon them by the government
(which, added by the corruption and the opacity in the bureaucracy, is only
making it difficult for them) and their own age-old lifestyle which they have
grown to become so comfortable with. Director Amlan Datta gets varied opinions
from across the board. From the villagers in Malana, you get opinions from
people as diverse as the 103-year-old head priest Vudeiram, erstwhile Chief
Ministers of State, local politicians from the Congress and the BJP, his own
brother-in-law Shanta who gives away profound thoughts about the state of
affairs (albeit in a high state).
All perspectives towards the sole topic of
inconvenient modernity v/s convenient age-old tradition have been brought out
well. The political fervour given to the film towards the end, wherein you have
excerpts from the speeches given during election rallies, do rev up the
documentary a bit. The contradictions in the speeches of politicians such as Narendra
Modi and Rahul Gandhi will definitely lighten you up. However, the sheer double
standards of our politicians will give an immense amount of pain as well. India
is a vast country. Cultures, geography, history, languages, traditions,
lifestyles across the country are immensely different from one another. Having read
up in detail about the making of the world’s largest democracy, there is
tremendous amount of respect for the makers of our glorious country. At the same
time, the state in which we find ourselves now is quite appalling. Most of our
countrymen talk about ‘change’. People in Malana are talking about being ‘resistant
to change’. Now, whether to leave people as they are, or to use force to get
them attuned to the ways of the rest of the country, is a highly debatable
topic. While one may think that the people of Malana should be left alone, the
others may get up and say that some of their methods are actually old-world and
unacceptable in today’s day and age. Now as tempted as the protesters may be to
say that ‘who is to decide what should/should not change?’, it must be
remembered that we are a functioning democracy. ‘Change’ can take days, months,
years, decades, centuries, millenniums, or sometimes even minutes. Talking about
it doesn’t really yield any results. All one gets is fake reassurances. The
people of Malana are left in such difficult circumstances that the current
situation can either make them or break them. Thoughts go out to this little
village, lost somewhere on the enormous map of our country! Malana is the one
of thousands of other such villages that has remained disconnected with the
outside world all these years, and suddenly find themselves in the middle of
our deteriorating democracy. The discussion is left wide open.
Hemraj’s wife Kekti has been sentenced to ten
years imprisonment for trafficking hashish. She was never aware about the laws
and now, suddenly she has been exposed to this strange world of ours, which
truly is becoming a difficult place to survive in. ‘BOM’ is a poignant,
thought-provoking film. Watch it and get enlightened.
Shivom Oza
I have an opinion on the law enforcement in this country. The opinion may not be a popular one, and is not designed to hurt any religious sentiments. I apologize if it is not agreeable to some people.
ReplyDeleteNote: This rant is not related to drugs. Just police and their shortcomings.
The law enforcers in our country belong to a social strata that is usually south of middle class. They house an envy, which leads to jealousy, which leads to anger against those more fortunate. And this translates to their actions against and treatment of those amongst the privileged, who may unfortunately find themselves of the wrong side of some admittedly archaic laws. Or even those who may not meet the moral standards of our law enforcers. The colaba restaurant raids are my case and point.
Morality changes with time and apparently with social strata. Unfortunately the laws are outdated and the enforcers are orthodox and envious.